Iron Chef Cat Cora Talks Healthy Kids' Meals

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In the ongoing fight for healthy school food, Celebrity Chef Cat Cora is hopping onboard as the national spokesperson for Lunch Break for Schools—a fundraising effort between Hidden Valley Salad Dressings and the American Culinary Federation. From February 27-March 2, 2012, chefs from cities across the country will prepare and sell healthy lunches with proceeds going to support nutrition education and outreach for kids. Cat has cooked up some special recipes for the program that will be sold in NYC. Find out where you can buy a lunch and support Lunch Break for Schools in your area.

We asked Cat a few questions to learn some tips and tricks about how she keeps her family eating healthy and satisfied:

There are a growing number of proponents for bringing back Home Economics to school curriculums. Do you think that may be part of the solution to the obesity epidemic?
I think it could definitely help if children are taught in school about whole natural ingredients, their health benefits, and the basics to preparing them properly.

How do you think education can be done at home for parents?
Kids can eat nutritious meals at school but have no control over what is served for dinner or breakfast and on weekends. I believe that parents need to make nutrition education a priority in their home environment. It's crucial for good health and longevity to instill in your children sound eating habits from an early age.

What have you found to be the most surprising/frightening example of the lack of education kids have about nutrition and healthy eating?
It's been very unfortunate to see and alarming to me when I've visited schools and realized that several of the students don't even know what seemingly familiar vegetables even are. For example, when If I hold up a whole raw eggplant and ask "What vegetable is this?", for example, and no one knows the answer. when I ask the room "What vegetable is this?". They've never seen one before in its natural state.

How do you think we can get children excited about healthy eating—especially with all the junk food advertising targeted towards them?
In my family, we let our boys have a say in what veggie side(s) they want for dinner that night. We list off a handful of options and get them excited about helping to plan the dinner menu. They're much more inclined to finish their plates when they've helped decide what goes on them, and they're getting their healthy veggies in this way as well. Kids love to dip, too, and a simple way wayIto make sure mine eat their veggies is to set out some carrots, broccoli and celery with a side of light ranch dressing before dinner. In our house, we call this our "happy hour" – the kids have a healthy snack to tide them over until dinner.

Hungry for more? Check back next week for the rest of the interview where Cat reveals her favorite dessert!